New Year, New Opportunities

2014 will bring a slew of new opportunities for me and the Permiehomestead Blog.  My partner graduated nursing school last year, and is working full-time as a nurse now, which not only means I'm not a single income, but that her income alone is greater than our combined incomes have ever been.

One thing this means for us for now is that we'll be staying in Portland.  We wanted to try to move out to the Columbia Gorge, which is where we think we ultimately want land.  But the job she landed is in Portland, which means I can keep my current job, but I don't have to work so many hours in my current nearly minimum wage position.  (OK, it's not as near minimum as it could be, but it's really not far off.)  I'm going to be taking the extra time I have after stepping down to part-time and write more, work on more projects, and take care of the household.  I consider it homesteading lite.  I'll get to cook almost every day, I'll get to experiment with homesteading skills like brewing beer and wine and preserving food more often.  I'm also considering getting a carpentry apprenticeship in order to develop a very useful homesteading skill.  Finally, I should have the time, and we should have the money, that I should be able to attend some workshops and get some certifications.  All of these things mean that I'll have much more to write about.

I'm planning on trying to write about 2-3 blog posts per week.  I have a couple of other writing projects I'm working on, so I may miss some posts here and there, but I think 2014 is the year that I finally stick to writing consistently.  I've always suspected that not having enough to write about that falls under the scope of this blog has been my biggest hurdle, and this year I suspect that hurdle will be removed.

Keep your eye out for more content.  If you haven't already, follow my blog on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter, and as always, please make sure to participate with comments here on the blog. It always makes it more interesting when it isn't just a one-way conversation!

Thanks for reading!